(Im)migration Can Only Escalate

As Brussels struggles and fails to instruct and legislate its way out of the immigration surge to Europe, it is becoming very clear that this is a global problem that will not go away and can only escalate.

There are four distinct types of (im)migration, two of which are modern day phenomena.

First we have ‘traditional’ migration which has been going on since we lived in caves. Our birth environment no longer gives us the life we are looking for and so we migrate to other areas, be they near or far, in the anticipation of finding a better life.

Then we have ‘enticed’ migration, by which countries seek workers to develop their economy. This too has gone on throughout history and is pertinent where colonisation is concerned. Such were the cases with America, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia for example.

Next we have ‘induced’ migration that results from forcing, rather than enticing, people to leave their homes and has been historically attributable to violent conflict. We see this repeated today with Europe, as the unrest in the Middle East escalates and the horrors of terrorism force people to flee.

The second type of ‘induced’ migration is one of the new phenomena that has arisen as climate change, through global warming, is raising sea levels and literally eradicating whole landmasses, forcing people to migrate to dry land.

Given that the fears of global warming are now becoming accepted, as the counter attack by vested interest loses credibility, more of our land masses will submerge beneath the waves and force people to relocate, whether within their homeland or abroad.

Finally, we have the second new phenomenon, with what I call ‘technology’ induced (im)migration, which is as a direct result of our inventiveness. In an era where tribes people, such as those on the Serengeti, continue to hunt with a spear whilst also now communicating by mobile phone, it is causing a breakthrough in the traditional ignorance of millennia that has previously kept us apart as a species.

It is here that the real future problems lie, as less developed Societies are awakened to a better life elsewhere and determine to seek it out. In many cases, that determination may well come from realising that they have not, nor are they ever likely to benefit from the use of the abundance of natural resources being stripped from their country by global corporations.

It is also the realisation that their wealth is being used to benefit other parts of the world and not benefitting them. With the awakening and growing understanding technology is bringing, it is not unreasonable for them to say that if it is their natural resources that are supporting the wealth of others, then they are just as entitled to go and benefit from it as the plunderers.

It was the Dalai Lama who put his finger on the very crux of this problem when talking recently about the issues within the EU, observing that “It’s impossible for everyone to come to Europe”.

The earliest (recent) European experience with this type of refugee has resulted from a growing awareness of our wealth and benefits systems in the UK, which has acted like a magnet to the less privileged. In trying to ‘contain’ this activity, the people of Calais and the surrounding area are experiencing growing unbridled lawlessness that the police seem incapable, or unconcerned about managing.

This video opened my eyes to what the future holds and comes from one residents personal account of the reality of ‘trapped’ refugees turning into vicious gangs who run rampant, inflicting beatings, rape and burglary upon the local population.

What is so perverse about the refugee scenario in Europe is that the same politicians now wrestling with this influx of desperate people are responsible for their original exodus. Greed and power have caused the destabilisation of their homelands and that same greed and unaccountable power is now causing the destabilisation of Europe.

What we are dealing with here is 18th century politics and trade in a 21st century world and the two dynamics are simply not reconcilable. Never was Einstein’s observation more pertinent than now:

“The thinking that created the problem is totally incapable of solving it”.

It is a problem that is already overwhelming us and technology will be the dominant force behind migration in the future, escalating the numbers seeking a better life, as it continues to educate and open up our previously closed world.

Over the next decade, the need for the evaluation and reconstruction of global politics is a subject that will also come to dominate our lives from many perspectives, of which immigration is just one.

Until the next time.

Thinking from his Book: Global Magna Carta. Returning Power to the 99% . . . If They Want It! By J T Coombes